THE THING (1982) Breakdown | Ending Explained, Why Childs Was A Thing, Theories & Hidden Details

Check out our breakdown of the 2011 Thing Prequel here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NePaB27Tik

My favorite trivia for this movie is that they asked people who were actually stationed in Antarctica about it. One of them replied that watching the movie and coming up with anti alien plans had become a tradtion for a while. He did comment that "despite this, we have yet to find where they keep the flamethrowers"

So here is something that has been mentioned and makes sense. When Macready hands Childs the liquor bottle and Childs drinks from it, Macready chuckles a little. Why? Because Childs just drank gasoline from a molotov cocktail. Those were the only bottles he had on him just prior to meeting up with Childs. His cabin was destroyed. So didn't get it from there. Childs jacket IS a different one from when he was guarding door. Macready took note of all this and KNOWS Childs is The Thing. This movie is a classic! Just amazing how we as a ppl can still debate on what actually happened, after all this time! Well done John Carpenter

The fact that this is STILL be discussed and has not been figured out without any doubt after all this time, just shows how great this movie is.

Interesting fact, the scene where Blair is doing the examination of the Alien and puts the pencil to his mouth was not in the script; the actor did this simply out of habit, so technically, despite it being seen in the film, this is not the actual point in the story Blair gets infected as it was an oversight. Blair's infection seems to occur at some point when he gets locked up; we know that he is fully aware the Alien will consume them all and prepares to hang himself. we see the noose in the background when the team go to see him, and now he suddenly proclaims he's a lot better and would like to come back in. At this point, its safe to assume he's infected at this stage.

One detail it took me many viewings to spot is when the dog-thing is burned by Childs. The humans don't realise it yet, not until Fuchs figures it out, but unless a thing is burned to ashes there is still cellular activity in the remains, enough to keep infecting others. When Childs torches the dog-thing, two of the crew rush in with extinguishers and put it out before it is properly burned. Which two? Palmer and Norris...

The Thing is an awesome movie. Too bad it was panned and hated when it was came out. As Marty McFly once said "I guess you guys aren't ready for that yet. But your kids are gonna love it."

Also, a fun fact: If you rewatch the opening scene, pay attention to Jed’s facial expressions. He’s the wolfdog that plays the Thing — and he’s clearly having a delightful time playing with everyone in the snow.

Childs is deff the thing, I saw someone comment this on the ending scene. The thing in 1982 is smarter and more cautious then the thing in 2011. The thing in 1982 only cares about surviving. not killing the whole crew. The last few lines of dialogue is perfectly written. The thing, Childs knows he wont make it out alive if they dont work together, Thats why it keeps asking "what should we do now or you dont have to worry about me'' And then comes one of the most badass lines ever. Macready says ''Why Don't We Wait Here, See What Happens'' bc Macready is ready to die to kill the thing, but the thing is not ready to die and is willing to work together with macready to survive.! Childs is the thing its very clear at this point tbh

Carpenter himself once stated in an interview that the status of Childs and MacReady at the end is left an intentional mystery. Other than that, there are a few issues with the most common theories about Childs during the final scene. His breath is, in fact, visible but is harder to see depending on the lighting of the particular shot and the quality of the source format. It is very clearly noticeable in the recent 4K UHD release. Also, Childs being willing to take a drink from MacReady's bottle isn't really very suspect behavior. At that point, both have more or less admitted to each other that there was nothing left to do and no chance of survival. Childs drink seems like more of an acceptance of his impending death. A sort of informal toast to the approaching oblivion. And MacReady's laugh seems like a similar type of acceptance, the way people often attempt to cope with tragedy by finding some form of humor in it. "This is the end for us. Might as well share one last drink together." But the mere fact that people continue to discuss moments like this from the film all these decades later is a testament to just what an excellent, finely-crafted film it is!

The critics of the time didn't recognize or appreciate the masterpiece that had been shown to them. This film was way ahead of its time. I'm glad its finally getting its flowers

The Theory I always liked was that MacReady had only empty bottles of booze at this point and what was in the bottle near the end was just straight gasoline. MacReady was getting ready to kill himself when Childs shows up, and by drinking the bottle and not reacting to the taste revealed them self as a thing.

Something i never realised until i was older is - some of the forms you see the thing as (especially the dog in the kenal scene) are some of the other things it has taken over on another planet, like the flower and the spider legs e.t.c i thought this made the film even more genius.

I’m actually surprised that with all the extensive research you did on this movie that you didn’t mention that the score is not just a single note being played but it actually represents the heart beat and when the heart motif is doubled it actually represents the thing imitating the heart beat. That was intentional by the composer.

I prefer to think that neither of them is the Thing...that they killed it, but it no longer makes a difference. I view the shared drink as them both accepting that they're dead, regardless.

The fact that we’re still discussing this is a testament to how incredible this movie is. I’m still constantly changing my mind on whether Childes or Macready were infected (starting to think it might’ve been Mac)

I love how both parties director&writers and the actors involved have never confirmed or denied any of the theories it is what makes a good horror movie scarier is the mystery of it like is it still out there or did the humans succeed

After many rewatches, the ending is very telling. The dialogue between Childs and MacReady is human...they await death.

You absolutely CAN see Child’s breath, especially in the 4K version. It all depends on the angle of the scene, but you can see it.

The Thing has always been my favorite movie. In the 90's my sister was dating a guy from Norway she met in college. They came over for dinner one night, so I put on the The Thing. I asked him to translate for us, so he did. It was pretty cool to finally find out what was being said in the opening.